Court in Rwanda sentences You Tuber to seven years in prison for criticizing President Kagame

By Abdul Kimera

Dieudonne Niyonsenga a Rwandan You tuber is also known as Cyuma was on Thursday 11, November 2021 sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of forgery, impersonation, and humiliation of state officials.

Mr. Niyonsenga, on his YouTube channel Ishema Tv gained millions of views on the story of Rwandan soldiers who abused slum dwellers during the lockdown in April.

The Kigali-based court slapped charges in absentia of the You tuber but in delivering the verdict he was to be arrested and taken to serve his jail sentence immediately due to the adverse consequences of his crimes on society.

The East African nation has recently waged a war on all citizens that publish content critical of the government especially opposition members and independent media with the recent arrests happening just last month.

Though his lawyers said that their appeal of this verdict will be of immediate effect, they were not pleased with how the court coupled the sentence with a fine of huge amounts of money claiming that the crimes were committed intentionally.

International organizations like the Human Rights watch have continuously accused the Rwandan government led by President Paul Kagame of abuses on human rights but authorities have since denied all the accusations.

On his YouTube channel Ishema TV, Niyonsenga Dieudonne gained popularity across the nation due to his regular discussions on human rights abuses in the country a move that has earned him more harm than good.

The You tuber denies all the charges slapped on him by the court. He promised to appeal as soon as possible.